188 comments:

"Obama insisted that experience didn't matter, then he picked someone (Biden) solely on the basis of experience. Moreover Obama insisted for over a year that his opposition to the war proved he was qualified to be president, then he picked someone who voted for the war just like Hillary."

(Sarah Palin is)Distinguished from Hillary Clinton in the sense that she made it on her own. She wasn't leveraged into power by a father or a husband. I really think she kind of represents the real feminist values.

Ms. Althouse,This is my first time visiting your site, although I have seen your comments before in blogs I admire (Wretchard The Cat).

Today, I went and listened to the speech of Sarah Palin (I'd first seen her on a Larry Kudlow evening interview a few weeks back) on being introduced as his running mate by John McCain.

What I came away with was her extraordinary experience factor. Political and human complexity does not need an exponent -- it's complications commence when there is more than one point of view.

I was reminded by this wonderful recitation of a singular set of localized experiences of a vice president who was selected for a calculated short-term political purpose, kept in the dark about the most important secret of his Pres.'s administration, and left to manifest on a world stage abruptly when his senior expired.

Because it would not otherwise prove that a woman not needing a man is possible.

But this has been proved already; just not as part of the ongoing story at hand, and the story at hand is what is drawing the interest.

It has its soap opera elements, tangled relationships, hidden meanings, slights and grudges, but it needs to show also that these things of interest to women all have sufficient actual meaning to make a male world.

The problem is that a woman typically cannot sustain the delusion that this job which mostly sucks is important compared to more typical womanly alternatives, and so women do not take it up sufficiently seriously to compete with men, who can sustain the delusion with no problem; they don't care at all about the womanly alternatives in the first place.

Soap opera is about the womanly alternatives; the not-needing-man-to-succeed fantasy is about life without soap opera as a womanly possibility.

Paradoxically this involves the same inner struggle, soul-searching and everlasting frustration that soap opera seeks.

You can't go meta on this question. You have to reason knowing you're in the story at the same time.

I'm sorry -- there were too many drawbacks with the two other strong contenders.

The FIRST THING out of liberals' mouths about a Romney pick would've been "two rich white guys for President".

And of Pawlenty, apart from the pawlenty of pens Olbermann would've been handed, let's be honest, it wouldn't have engendered a lot of excitement.

This lady brings and almost endless palette of life hues.

Parents, coach, high school principal, husband, steel worker, fisherman, dog-musher, eldest son serving in Iraq, youngest son not aborted though they knew he would be a Down Syndrome baby because she's personally pro-choice, a Governor of a strategic oil State, not a beltway insider like the 3 other gentleman, NRA member, Catholic.

Tell me if you've heard enough, because I have.

She's political GOLD.

I wouldn't have thought less of McCain if he had chosen Romney or Pawlenty.

(Sarah Palin is)Distinguished from Hillary Clinton in the sense that she made it on her own. She wasn't leveraged into power by a father or a husband. I really think she kind of represents the real feminist values.

She also kind of represents American values. Work hard, play by the rules, and succeed.

You Palin fans should check out Kos and Sully. She may have holes. She may have failures. She may have an unacceptably low knowledge of foreign affairs.

Kos and Sullivan? Why would any thinking person give passing credence to anything they said or thought? Gee, next you’ll be saying that Huffingglue and MYDD should be considered reliable too.

When they start dissecting Biden and looking for dirt I’ll start looking for flying pigs.

Palin has very little to bring to the table. Have you bothered to read or look into any of the things her detractors are saying today? Or, does it not matter? It helps to look at things from all angles and take a breath.

Maybe TIME can put her on the cover and do a story. Probably TIME won't, though. Those nutty moderates will no doubt go for an eighth Obama cover and another fluff piece about why he is a world-historical figure.

Why is it that Obama has few credentials but is awesome while Palin has similar credentials and is somehow "inexperienced"? It's really a strange brew of sexism and leftism and inexplicable cultism.

You won't believe this, ZPS, but for me, choosing Palin was the most important campaign decision McCain could make.

My entire being was emotionally invested in it last night, and really has been since I first blogged about it, on May 29th (Althouse had heard it from Beldar, I believe she said. I think in June though).

(and possibly only Kennedy won where he might not have otherwise by picking LBJ)

Nobody really cares who is 'one heartbeat' from the presidency. Just as no one cares who is 'two heartbeats' from the presidency. Should the Speaker of the House only be someone who is ready to be President? Pelosi as President might be some people's fantasy, but I don't think the number of heartbeats she was from the presidency mattered in the decision.

What about 'three heartbeats', that'd be venerable Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia. Is he presidential material?

The VP can learn a lot being around the presidency, and in the unlikely event that she is thrust in to the top spot, she'll be ready when the time comes.

If the DEMs want to talk experience, they're falling in to a dangerous trap, since it's the top of their ticket that's occupied by an inexperienced person with zero executive experience, and not much time in the Senate.

Nobody's really prepared to be President before they become President. Some come with strong ideals, strong will, and a strong mind and grow with the job, others get beat up by the responsibilities. When it comes down to it, it's a person's moral compass, their capacity for comapssion, their instinct for leadership, and their ability to rally others to their cause that defines a presidency, and voters just have to guess based on imperfect information as to whether the person they choose has what it takes.

Reynolds has a couple of links at Instapundit.com from feminists, and they seem to be saying that while Palin may not drive them to vote for McCain, the Obamaniacs are rapidly driving them away from Obama. Why? The way that they are talking about her.

Mentioning Andrew Sullivan comments, it is worthwhile - at least to fathom the degree of his snarkiness - to read on his "underwear's too tight" comments on Palin. He has gone terribly undeniably bonkers.

Go read the Washington Post blog or anywhere online where the Palin pick is being discussed, and you’ll see the trademark Obama misogyny already out in full force. She’s been on the ticket for two seconds and already the Obamabots are saying she “looks like a porn star,” they’re making rude remarks about her childbearing, they’re ridiculing her intelligence.

All of you BHO attackers are not answering the question about Palin. BHO folks have spent a year answering that question. Y'all can't change the subject forever.

You'd better hope they do. As Tyler Cowen points out:Around the blogosphere you will see many left-wing writers criticizing Palin for lack of experience. Maybe this criticism is correct, but these commentators are falling into The Trap. Most American voters do not themselves know much detail about foreign affairs and their vision of an experienced leader does not require such knowledge. Was it demanded from Reagan? Doesn't everyone agree that Cheney and Rumsfeld knew plenty? Rightly or wrongly, many American voters will view Palin's stint as mayor of small town, her background in sports, her role in a beauty contest (yes), her trials raising teenage children, and her decision to stick with her priinciples and have a Downs Syndrome baby as all very valuable and relevant forms of experience. The more the word "experience" is repeated, no matter what the context, the more it will hurt Obama. Palin needs to appear confident and capable on TV and in the debates, but her ticket is not going to lose votes if she cannot properly spell Kyrgyzstan or for that matter place it on a map.

1jpb, are you being treated for something debilitating? Kos and Sullivan can't be trusted to adequately report the moisture level of the ocean let alone more complicated things (like shapes and bright colors).

The day they're trustworthy enough to use for politics is the day Hillary leaves Bill for Obama.

The Dems are in full throttle anti woman mode. They cannot stand that a noraml, hard working, self made woman is on the ticket. They are crying out that she is not one of the victim class, like old what's her name.

They are also low to no class people. after seeing all of the vitrio from the regular Dems and the real hate from the whackos, net roots, and libtards, I wish McCain would have announced his pick at the same time that younster was giving his little speech.

I am content to wait and let your future postings here on Althouse - where I have posted for 7 years, and have met Ann in the flesh by the way,prove whether or not you are an intelligent commenter - not promising so far, I must say, or just a long term whiner and troll who really adds nothing substantive to the discussion. Unlike you, I have earned the right to rant at the ones who come here only to criticize the commenters rather than make ther points in a civil way.

I'm having a hard time searching this blog and finding you bringing anything substantive that would provide anyone with a reason to consider your point of view.

You Palin fans should check out Kos and Sully. She may have holes. She may have failures.

Gee, you mean she might not be perfect? There's a shocker. I better call Kinko's and tell them to hold off on that wall-sized poster of her I wanted them to make.

She may have an unacceptably low knowledge of foreign affairs.

Unacceptable compared to who? Unless you could the Clinton's second campaign, the Democrats haven't nominated a person who knew shit about foreign policy since Walter Mondale. Unless she gets caught on record thinking that the "Georgia" Putin invaded is located just north of Florida or something it is a safe bet she can't be any worse on foreign policy than Obama is. The man's big ground-breaking approach to Iran is to replace "tough talk" with "tough diplomacy", for pity's sake. Maybe he thinks diplomats use sign language.

Yes, like his political career was kick-started by unrepentant domestic terrorist Ayers. And that he got his property in a sweetheart deal with Rezko. And that he voted against a bill to have a doctor come in when an abortion attempt results in a live birth, because that would (in his words during the debate) "complicate" the mother's decision, and then called those who pointed this out liars, even though there is audio tape. We have learned that he thinks we don't have enough translators in Afghanistan since they are in Iraq, despite the fact that they don't speak the same language. We learned that he thinks the best person to convey his message of 'change' is 6 term Senator Joe Biden. We learned that his wife was never proud of our country, not even once, until he ran for President.

What I have learned about Obama made me decide, without much difficulty, that he is a horrible candidate.

Maybe after some reporting, I'll be turned away from Palin in a similar fashion. If so, I will gladly not vote. I was going to not vote if one of the two phonies was tabbed as the GOP's VP choice, so I am more than ready to do so. But, so far, I like what I see from her. She has a few of the most important qualities to my political tastes-- she is authentic, she is pragmatic, and she fights corruption.

That's something the Republicans haven't had so far. No one was exciting. And no Republicans have been exited about the election. No one was excited enough about any of the Republican candidates to show up much for the primaries. (Which is probably why McCain won.)

I'm not sure that relying on excitement is the best thing, but it's sort of fun, ain't it? The Democrats sure like it a lot.

I know that I have said that Jindal and Palin didn't have enough experience yet it's absolutely true that both or either of them had every bit as much as Obama, so there you go! As someone mentioned... criticizing Palin's lack of experience isn't going to help Obama much at all.

Oh, people can try for the "we already asked Obama all these questions lets forget him and concentrate on how unready Palin is" but I doubt it will fly since asking questions says nothing about the questions having ever been answered.

And Palin isn't a complete unknown... people have been talking about her for a long time for VP.

I left work thinking McCain had picked Pawlenty (the local paper said so) and that was okay but this was fun news.

Oh, and I like her hair. I like that she's pretty. I like that she has more children than I do.

If Obama can pass the CiC test... who can't? The man has no military experience, no executive experience, thinks guns are scary, and has stated that his response to an immediate military emergency would be to assemble a blue-ribbon committee to assess the situation. Oh, and he's friends with a guy who tried to blow up the Pentagon and nail-bomb a soldiers' dance. But he supports the troops!... by voting to cut their funding during wartime.

But I guess Palin might have trouble as commander in chief because she's... only a governor and National Guard commander? Okey dokey.

What's interesting about that video is that Rachel Skylar doesn't seem to be the sort of feminist who sees all pro-life women as evil turncoats of the feminist movement. Good for her. After the responses I've seen today to Palin's announcement, I'd say she's in the minority. There's a significant segment of feminists who seem to think that a pro-life woman VP is 10x worse than a pro-life male VP.

I don't care. What you could do is admit that you are wrong, and save whatever credibility you have left here. None of the commenters who know me here would accuse me of considering Obama my messiah. I have mocked those sorts of people relentlessly, here and on my own blog.

It's a lesson for you. The next time you accuse someone of something, you should probably, you know, make sure you know what you're talking about.

And my opinion still remains (which set you off into your freakshow in the first place): Palin has very little to bring to the table.

I have spoken several times with David Frum, and corresponded with him several times. I admire his last book, but I had major points of disagreement with him over several things. That said, he is always gracious and a smart fellow.

But he is a bit of an Eeyore when it comes to good predictions on anything for Republicans, and thankfully often wrong (read further down his blog and you'll see my point).

The place he went wrong here in the link you provided was his final sentence:

But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?

That's a disingenuous way to frame it and Frum knows it. She is currently a Governor, and by all reports, a radically successful Governor.

My brother-in-law worked for several years in Alaska, setting up half-way houses for alcoholics and drug addicts for a group called Oxford Houses when Palin was the mayor in Wasilla. They opened an Oxford House right next door to Palin's house. Needless to say, Oxford has problems moving into neighborhoods all the time, because of the Not-in-my-backyard fears, but Palin was very supportive. How many mayors in America would feel the same? She's the real thing!

I think we should keep comparing Obama and Palin. Let the Democrat Presidential choice run against the Republican Vice Presidential choice. That should be a winner for Obama, huh? And what's more Palin does *actually* have accomplishments to point to. She ran in the first place in Alaska to get rid of the corrupt (to some degree or other) old-boy Republican network in her State. She actually did it.

Y'all still keep insisting that Palin is able to become CIC without knowledge.

What happened to conservatism? Why not use information to declare that someone is capable of becoming CIC? Would information kill you?

Did y'all know that until a couple days ago JSM had only met Palin at most twice, but probably only one time? There's some information for you.

Frum and some of other conservatives are being wise. Y'all should hold judgment. You can always come back later and that say she can be CIC. But, you are the definition of stupid by making the assumption without knowledge.

And, she was for the bridge to no where before she was against it. She wanted to push it through before Rs lost power in the congress. There's some more information for you.

Why do you have a sexist double standard for women? It's not OK for a woman to get where she is because of her husband but it is OK for a man, such as George Bush, to get where he is because of his father? In what alternate universe can you imagine George Bush becoming President without his father?

Obviously, the photos represent the best pictures of the best-looking conservative women, and the worst of the worst for the liberals, but for the love of humanity, please warn us when links include pictures of Helen Thomas. Things like that can't be un-seen.

Why did McCain keep looking down behind Palin? It may be the angle, but it sure looked like he kept checking out her backside.

I looked at the video again. he is looking down in front of her, about where her notes would be on the podium. He sure isn't looking behind her, if he had turned far enough to look at her ass, he'd also be looking at Cindy, and that would not have had Cindy smiling, as she does throughout.

Can she get used to being the CIC?

Well she is the commander of the Alaska NG. That is both an Army Force and an Air Force. I have seen pictures of her doing a good job firing an M4, seen her on a track firing a M2 (looks a lot better in a CVC that the Dufus did), seen shots of her visiting the wounded.

Have you seen Obama in any of those situations?

As the Alaskan Governor, I bet she has followed the status of her soldiers when they went to the sandbox. I bet she has been to the going away formations and seen pregnant young girls send their husbands off to war. I know she's been at welcome home events. I would not be surprised if she has signed condolenace cards for dead soldiers families. I expect she gets regular briefings on the readiness status of the State Guard.

Not that they weren't hot before, but what can I say I like a mystery.

Palin's husband and son just got a lot hotter(from Politico, via Drudge):

Democrats may be blasting Sarah Palin as a doctrinaire conservative, and Republicans may be embracing her for the same reason, but her husband and oldest son are independents.

Or, more precisely, their party affiliation is listed as “undeclared” on voter registration records retrieved from the Alaska Division of Elections.

Todd Palin, husband of the Alaska governor, hasn’t been affiliated with a party since he first registered to vote while he was in his early 20s, in 1989 — the year after he married Sarah Palin. And Track Palin, their 19-year-old son, registered as undeclared when he became eligible to vote last year.

I seem to recall various people who comment here who are currently singing the virtues of Palin saying in a recent thread on another topic that they loathed Patrick Buchanan and would never deign to read his works. Does the fact that Palin was a staunch Buchanan supporter affect their views one way or another?

I was a little uncomfortable by McCain's campaign statement that 'she's ready to be President." I think she can be, but I don't think she is.

At the same time, she's only running for VP, while the under-qualified candidate is at the top of the Democratic ticket.

I agree with you on the first. On the second - she's only running for VP - oh, only VP. Why diss the VP? Why such low expectations for your candidate? I get why you don't think much of Obama, but how does that make yours a positive? If one doesn't measure up, neither do.

1jpb, I haven't always agreed with Sir David, but I haven't and won't forget his heroism in the Miers battle. That wins him a very strong presumtion of credibility, for me. Nevertheless, I respectfully think that in this instance, he is wrong. He ends his post asking, "[i]f it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?" If it were my decision, and I was putting my contry first, I would rather put Sarah Palin a heartbeat from the Presidency than Barack Obama or Joe Biden, and that's the relevant standard.

As a governor for even only two years, Palin has already made hundreds of executive decisions that affect the state of Alaska. Moreover, the public has reacted to those decisions with an 80% approval rating.

To data, Obama has never made an executive decision. (Neither has McCain or Biden for that matter). Obama is a legislator. He is merely one among many legilsators who decide as a group on legsilative matters.

This is why being a Governor is much better training for the presidency than being a Senator. Palin's two years as a governor trumps all of Obama's experience put together.

On the second - she's only running for VP - oh, only VP. Why diss the VP?

Because the VP doesn't actually have any responsibilities beyond breaking a once-in-a-blue-moon Senate tie and waiting for the President to croak. It is usually a pretty good training ground for future Presidents, though, since (post-Truman) VPs are usually kept in the loop on what the administration is doing and why it is doing it.

I get why you don't think much of Obama, but how does that make yours a positive? If one doesn't measure up, neither do.

They aren't being measured for the same job. Your second-string players don't need to be as good as your starters, although of course it is certainly better if they are.

"I agree with you on the first. On the second - she's only running for VP" - oh, only VP. Why diss the VP?

I'm not "dissing" the VP, merely admitting that's she's not qualified for an office she's not seeking. The issue raised above was her readiness to be CIC. Last time I checked, that's not in the VP's job description. Has the Constitution changed recently?

I get why you don't think much of Obama, but how does that make yours a positive? If one doesn't measure up, neither do.

Betting aside. None of that makes you ready to be CIC of our nation's military. There are questions of judgment and wisdom.

So far, based on previous media interviews, Palin has only had simplistic, somewhat disinterested, comments regarding the Iraq situation. There have been no other public comments about other issues in the world, so far. Presumably we will learn more as the reporting continues.

Until then we won't know if she has the knowledge and judgment to be CIC. Maybe McCain should have waited for this information too.

This is a particularly meaningful question because McCain has had multiple cancers and he is 72 years old.

grl - was reminded by this wonderful recitation of a singular set of localized experiences of a vice president who was selected for a calculated short-term political purpose, kept in the dark about the most important secret of his Pres.'s administration, and left to manifest on a world stage abruptly when his senior expired.

Truman did all right with a common haberdasher's touch.

Perhaps this fisher wife has the right idea, too.

The difference is that all the VPs, including Truman, had substantially more credentials in military leadership, high office, or private industry than Palin.

All the VPs.

In the last 100 years, no one would have considered a person with Palin's credentials for the office.

What has changed is that the political consultants have now determined that media likability, "biography!!", and appeal to targeted demographic groups matter more than credentials to make the sale! to growingly detached, uniformed, and lazy voters.

John Edwards, thought to be a shitbag by people that dealt with him, was an unsurprising choice, given the cynics seeing Presidential and VP candidates as little more than different dog food brands to be marketed properly. So too - Quayle, Ferraro, now Palin.====================xwl - Nobody's ever lost an election because of who they picked for VP.

No one has tried running at age 72 with two past bouts of a deadly cancer with an underqualified VP.

No one, except Bush I and Kerry picked an underqualified "youthful" prettyboy. You can reasonably argue that Quayle cost Bush I the 1992 election that HW Bush might have avoided if he had had a credible #2 stumping for him.

And while post-mortems on Kerry emphasize "swift-boating" or what an insufferable snooty dickhead he was, a very good argument can be made that if he had picked Gephardt as VP instead of useless prettyboy Edwards - he would have won via Missouri, Iowa, and Ohio.

=====================One great problem with our 2-Party system is both sides want no quals for higher office in the public's mind - so they have maximum flexibility with candidate selection, donors, and job security for all the "experts" that swoop in for patching up areas candidates are deficient in in their lifetime prep for high office.

Think about it. Foreign policy experience? That is the purview of 1 in 10,000 Americans who make careers in academia and State - and the typical one that ends up in the White House is someone like Condi or Joe Wilson that know much about 2-3 countries and nothing of the other 190.What training do senior officials get in negotiating skills with foreigners and lobbying groups, or national finances?Who ever assesses them before clueless voters get to them on their abilities and deficiencies in stress-filled emergency situations? (Reportedly, Obama wanted to play in a war game that assessed a White House team of actual or potential Executive staff in a crisis. And Obama, playing the CiC, failed open because he could not make decisions in a timely manner under pressure.)

China, France, KSA, Russia, Israel and others train it's cadre of likely national leaders under a structure of learning America neglects. Young leaders are given international experience under senior leaders in foreign affairs, negotiating, management of state budget and finance. Then checked out as junior execs given a lot of latitude in junior posts, labor-foreign official negotiations and trade agreement details, military, and yes, especially with the Israelis, Chinese, and Russians - in managing industrial and military spy rings.

One thing that we need to change besides leadership training in essential skills for high office is eliminating Iowa and New Hampshire and S Carolina deciding on their own who gets selected. By S Carolina, it has essentially been "over" since 1984.

peter v. bella - "Foreign Affairs:The never ending worry of what France thinks about us." I laughed. But I can refine it even further, albeit less humorously. Our relationships with actual nations, even France, have done pretty well under this administration. It's our relationship with the UN, the EU, and the international journalists that has gone south. Which is fine with me, BTW. Those groups want to rule us or undermine us. Individual nations, OTOH, seek alliances and agreements, which have been going well. India, for example, has a billion people and has never had better relations with us.

1jbp - I hear your frustration that you believe no one is answering, but I think it is because you are only seeing one track as a possible way to answer. You see your insistence as strong logical holding others accountable. Others see it as not listening.

The CIC test, independent of the Foreign policy test ( a whole 'nother basket), consists of finding and empowering good people, and keeping the nation's spirits up if things get difficult. GWB gets a C+ on both counts. How will Palin do? No one knows. If we have to guess, we are mostly working from symbols.

At that point it is entirely legitimate to then ask "compared to who," because that is the question facing the electorate. It is not an evasion, it is the real question. We know that McCain has experience identifying good military people, but we know nothing about empowering them. We know that McCain has already done good work keeping the nation's spirits up, even when it was politically unpopular.

Obama has no experience identifying and empowering good military people, and has been a net negative on keeping people's spirits up for the long haul. Biden does have some experience identifying good military people, but also has no experience empowering them. He has a mixed record keeping people's spirits up in time of war, having mostly been a weathervane. Palin has been a minor positive in keeping the nation's spirits up. She has no record of identifying or empowering good military people.

Taken all together, Palin has the advantage over Obama, and runs about even with Biden.

I know, you wanted to frame the question differently. That's what happens when you try and carry on both sides of a debate in your own head. ("And then he'll say... and then I'll say..."). Real life doesn't work that way.

Does the fact that Palin was a staunch Buchanan supporter affect their views one way or another?

I would expect a "staunch" Buchanan supporter to have contributed money to the guy's campaign, wouldn't you?

But yes, it does worry me a little. On the other hand I didn't realize what a nutcase Buchanan was back then either. He gave the impression of just being vehemently anti-Israel rather than an actual Nazi apologist.

Maybe he needs a break from running against George Bush. We do run the risk that he might actually start running against John McCain at some point, though, and then where will we be? :)

That's not very likely to happen any time soon, is it? ;-) In fact, the vice-presidential debate will probably be little more than one very long evening of Joe Biden attacking George W. Bush.

Anyway, 1jbp has convinced me, come November we have to choose between the ticket with the inexperienced newcomer running for President of the United States or the ticket with the inexperienced newcomer running for Vice President of the United States. Hmmm.

Until then we won't know if she has the knowledge and judgment to be CIC. Maybe McCain should have waited for this information too.

She has been the chief executive of a state for two years. This qualifies her far more to be a CIC than any Senator or legislator (excepting those who are experts on military matters of course).

Whether or not two years is enough is another matter, but two years as governor is not unusual for presidents.

Calvin Coolidge was governor of Mass. for only two years before he ascended to the vice presidency.

Woodrow Wilson was only governor of New Jersey for two years and he led the country through World War I (but he was also a fascist).

Teddy Roosevelt spent only 2 years as governor of New York and 7 months as vice president before he became President.

Again, its the executive experience that matters. If you have proven yourself a competent executive after two years, you can be President.

Notice the common theme though. These successful presidents were all governors with executive experience, even if only for a few years.. The only president I can think of who didn't have executive experience and very little legislative experience is Abe Lincoln... but Abe Lincoln was a completely self made man who taught himself to read - no one compares to him.

Obama has refused to release any records and has only provided a 1 page statement from his doctor.

not much transparancy there. What is Obama hiding one mught ask?

Very true. Obama was a chain smoker for 25 years (and he may still smoke as his voice is a smoker's voice damaged by years of sucking on cancer sticks) At the very least he should produce an x-ray of his lungs. There is a reasonable possibility that he has ling cancer.

the vice-presidential debate will probably be little more than one very long evening of Joe Biden attacking George W. Bush.

That will be interesting coming from a man serving in a do-nothing Congress with lower approval ratings than Bush, especially since Palin's shown her willingness to take on the status quo and offend members of her own party.

Of course, Joe bring his own problems to the ticket. If McCain is smart, he might point out the "crushing debt" Americans are struggling under is partly thanks to Joe Biden, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MBNA.

Simon said... I also think Drill Sgt. hit the nail on the head above. Asking whether Palin is ready to be commander in chief ignores the fact that she already is.

Oh, please, spare us the crap that being tit-u-lar head of the National Guard and visiting "the heroes" and playing with their toys made Palin, Spitzer, Deval Patrick, Bill Richardson, Charlie Crist, Kathleen Blanco, Gray Davis, Howard Dean fully ready to be Commander in Chief of the Nation.

Dog and pony shows for Governors are little different than for lawyer-Senators, House Reps, or 1st Ladies who never served.

The excretable Illionois Gov "Buddy" Ryan asked a Marine Embassy guard who was a SGT if he was a Major or a General, and later on review, called an F-16 a "big awesome thingy".

It appears that they got the story wrong. She wore a Buchanan button when he came to town, but that was because he was a candidate being welcomed by the mayor. When a news report came out about it shortly afterwards, she wrote the paper to tell them that they got it wrong.

She was an official in the Steve Forbes campaign, not in the Buchanan campaign.

Did Geraldine Ferarro impress people with her foreign policy insights or knowledge of the military? Come on.

No kidding, Palin is far more experienced then Ferarro because she has been a chief executive for two years. Palin is far more experienced than Obama, because she has had to make hundreds of executive decisions. Obama has made none.

However, in Ferarro's day, there were no women with executive experience, so Ferarro was the best option available.

Obama has refused to release any records and has only provided a 1 page statement from his doctor.

I'd heard that some time ago. As we know by now, demands for full disclosure only apply to Republicans and inconvenient Democrats.

Jim Lindgren @ the Volokh Conspiracy wrote an interesting post highlighting a couple of entries on Obama's tax returns that show speaking fee income while he was a member of the Illinois General Assembly.Speaking fees are prohibited under the ethics regulations of the legislature. No one followed that up.

Still, nobody knows anything about Palin's world view and wisdom related to the CIC position, but many of y'all take comfort in your ignorance as you claim that she is wise and her world views are well considered.

At some point y'all will need to stop side stepping and diverting this question. We need more information. McCain should have had more information.

Well yeah! Palin vs. Putin? McCain is a walking dinosaur with invasive melanoma cancer cut out of his head.

He has released a thousand pages of medical records.

Not so much. He kept delaying the release before finally letting hand picked media "peek" at them briefly not allowing any documentation of the records, only scribbled notes. He still won't release any psychiatric evaluations, and if he did not suffer with PTSD, he's the luckiest POW on earth.

The fact is, Sloan, that they aren't best buddies like Al and Bill (truly they had a bond, that's why Al had Bill campaign for him so much), and John Kerry and John Edwards, and Mondale and Ferraro (they were practically lovers).

You know, you liberal nutballs: you are right. At the end of the day, it would be comforting to know that an experienced and credentialed politician such as Biden was only a heartbeat away from the presidency. Because in the sad and unlikely event that the sitting president should die, I want a president who has experience, who has governed, who knows the ropes.

I mean, really, We don't want some doe-eyed amateur in there whose top credential is that he edited a journal no one reads and was a lowly state legislator for a few years. Right? Right?

Palin -- running for Vice President. Would not be CIC, not responsible for foreign policy. Needs to be ready to break tie votes in Senate on Day 1.

The only reason they are grasping at this particular straw, Pastor Jeff, is that for them McCain is Methuselah. They've never seen an old guy like him! Eww, he's wrinkly, get him off our screens! Where is that young stud Obama??

And of course, McCain being old means that he could croak LIKE TOMORROW! Like you know, their pal Tim Russert. Like their nemesis, Tony Snow, even.

That's why the purported lack of experience and "heartbeat away" meme is being bandied about.

That and because they were caught off guard by the wrinkly old guy who did something the young stud couldn't do -- choose the woman.

Piss off, dude. Simon is right. You are completely intellectually dishonest. You are the clown, dude, for believing that you can somehow trick people into voting for Obama with heavily colored facts and outright lies.

Palin replied: “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”

To paraphrase for you 1jpb.

I won't talk about being VP until I know what it is they would want me to do. I'm used to doing real work. I wouldn't want to be just a figurehead.

Palin's world view and wisdom regarding the CIC position may be just fine. But, we don't know anything about this yet.

A lot of the conservatives here seem to be withholding judgment until they actually learn what she knows and thinks. But, a few of you are jumping the gun, so I'm poking a little fun at your silly behavior.

PS: Are y'all claiming that Politico is liberal? I could possibly think of them as sort of center, but not liberal.

She doesn't look great in the video. I can see your interpretation. But, I can see the politico view too--especially because she's very earnest in her answer to Larry's follow up about the VP position being a big job.

As we learn more it is possible that all of these doubts will fade as she demonstrates her capacity for the job.

Also, was she truthful about that trooper thing? I understand that the x-brother-in-law has been characterized as a wife beater. But, it would be prudent for folks to fully understand what's going on here. Could be no big deal, we'll need to wait and see.

2. Palin has a son going to Iraq, is familiar with guns and hunting and has been CIC of the Alaska National Guard, in which capacity she has welcomed soldiers back from Iraq and talked with them.

Palin is used to giving orders and having them followed. She is used to passing budgets and following them. She is used to having the buck stop with her. In contrast, senators can hide behind their colleagues or parliamentary procedure ( such as voting "present") or simply not show up for work. If a US senator didn't show up for work half the time, who would know? But a governor has to be there every day. Finally, the biggest domestic issue is also probably the most important foreign issue: energy. Palin, as governor of Alaska, is very familar with oil and natural gas production and markets. This could come in handy when dealing with Russia or Iran.

We've got Palin. Palin is who McCain picked. What *purpose* is served by sitting back calmly and stating that we'll wait and see? I said here (in fact) not to long ago that Palin and Jindal were great but needed more experience. I still think so.

Yet, since McCain *has* picked Palin, past tense, the VP pick is Palin, I see no reason not to concentrate on the "great" part of my earlier assessment.

And we *have* been talking about Palin for months for VP. This is not new. She didn't come out of no where. I would expect that not a single regular participant on *this* blog reacted with "Palin who?" when they found out. So saying we don't know her? That's sort of a stretch, really.

And in the end we don't have to make a choice about Sarah Palin in a vacuum, yes or no. We have to chose between Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin. Anything we consider about her has to be considered in that context anyway, no matter how much you want to insist that she be considered divorced from any real-world circumstances.

I wish she'd been Governor of Alaska for a few more years but for the love of Pete, at least she's been to work for those two years!

Obama, the Presidential pick for the Democrats has less experience than she does!

McCain made a smart political choice... all she has to do is not make any huge glaring mistakes. The Democrats will do the rest.

Michelle Obama's kids go to a school operated by her employer -- the same school Milton Friedman sent his kids to. Certainly having the kids on campus would be reassuring, like having her kids in the Governor's office is for Palin.

Presidential pick for the Democrats has less experience than she does!

I would say that leading the Developing Communities Project on the South Side of Chicago for three years would be comparable to being the mayor of a 6700 person town in Alaska. Before he left, some 20 years ago, Obama had a staff of 13 and a budget of $400,000.

More importantly, Palin's ability to go from running a hamlet to running a state the size of Alaska, shows that ability and potential are more important than experience.

"[i]f it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?"

Does it bother you that not so long ago Barak Obama became a member of the Illinois legislature in an uncontested district. Lets face it neither has more than three years experience at high level office. I do worry about so much inexperience being pushed into high office. That applies to both Obama and Palin. It was also a major problem with George Bush as well, when he took office.

McCain is taking some risk by putting her out there. It also seems many democrats are quick to label her a bimbo. That is also high risk. It could well backfire.

And leading it? What does that mean? Sure, the budget it big enough... but who controlled it? Obama or a committee?

Obama seems to be pretty good at facilitating (or at least that's the only thing I've heard claim that he's ever actually done) without taking sides or upsetting anyone or rocking the boat.

But really... if the developing communities project screwed up did the city fail to clear the snow off the streets? Mayors have a different sort of responsibility even with comparable budgets. Plus they have to get elected. I doubt much that those controlling the purse strings of the developing communities project were elected by the people they had to tell "you aren't at the top of the list for frost-boil maintainence, sorry".

She seriously believes that if a man is CEO of his company, his wife gains that experience as well?

Yeah, that's a pretty bizarre world-view, I thought. My parents had (and have, for that matter) a very healthy relationship, but they were never, by any stretch of the imagination, well-versed enough in the details of each other's careers to step up and do the job.

If I married, say, a junior school English teacher, I'd be sure to share how my work was going and so on, but the idea that she'd know how to do my job is as ridiculous as the idea of me successfully making it through a week as a junior high teacher without guzzling a bottle of Drain-O.

You may recall Mel Carnahan and Sonny Bono having died -- their wives took over, without a hitch.

Again, it doesn't work across all spectrums. But politics and power, yes.

That's why I was one of the very few Republicans that didn't begrudge Hillary Clinton her 8 years next to the highest official in the land. She was more than capable of being Senator from NY, because of it.

Nobility (or its modern equivalent, dictatorship) is substantially different from elective office, though. Nobles (and the families of dictators) are intimately involved in government. They enjoy, and exercise, power that the first lady hasn't got. They are in most cases the most trusted confidants of the ruler.

It is possible that Hillary might have been Clinton's closest confidant, although as others have noted that would have been entirely illegal (she didn't have clearance). But she's always been deliberately vague on that point.

I don't know whether Palin will turn out to be an ok pick or a great pick, or whether she does or doesn't have vulnerabilities.

One issue the dems can't attack her on, however, is the experience issue.

Palin has more experience than Obama did when he decided to run, and has more executive experience than Obama, Biden, and McCain put together. And it's executive experience that counts for the Presidency.

Being a governor is far better preparation for the presidency than being a senator. Governors manage states. Senators preen themselves in subcommittees and engage in speechifying.

So, sure, you could say that being a mayor, a governor, etc, isn't enough experience to be vice president, but that just beautifully sets up McCain to point out that being a failed 'community organizer' (pretty much the poster child for 'do nothing but navel gaze and draw a paycheck' faux job) isn't enough experience to be president

If Obama was on the bottom of the ticket rather than the top, then there might be some slight benefit to be gained from arguing over which of the two is more inexperienced...but with Obama on top, that's probably not a comparison that's going to help Obama.

I'm a Republican. Virtually my whole life Congress was controlled by the Democrats. The few years recently when the Republicans were in power was devastating. They were almost as corrupt as the Democrats. If you think, as I, that corruption is the big problem in Washington than Sarah's selection gives us hope for real change. I also think McCain has a pretty good record here. Foreign affairs experience? Biden has it and look at the mistakes he's made. (Against kicking Iraq out of Kuwait and for partitioning Iraq-i.e. giving part to Iran and committing the rest to horrific bloodletting) It's like my gym teacher used to say: "Practice doesn't make perfect if you practice the wrong thing." Some people, like Biden, will never get it right. They don't have a clue.

"PS: Are y'all claiming that Politico is liberal? I could possibly think of them as sort of center, but not liberal."

They strike me as fairly 'fair and balanced', with the exception of Roger Simon, who has proven himself to be a dishonest hack. That he comes from the left isn't what makes him a dishonest hack, though. It is that he lies and spins things in implausible directions.